All the teams file into the arena at the beginning of the main round. I know this is a little blurry. I think I have some better ones, but haven't checked all the images. I wanted to give you an idea of how things were done.
Looking for a pin. The guy on the bottom is kicking hard to be free as our guy on top is holding on for dear life.
Almost pinned. He's got to get that shoulder a little closer to the mat. He did get it done.
VERY rough day... Things were, of course, extremely hectic at work. They always are when I'm a little under the weather. I guess that is a major component of Murphy's Laws. I spent my lunch hour picking up my press pass, making sure I had packed everything I needed in my camera bag, and putting air in my tires after noticing one tire on my car was a little low. That's another task I don't do so well when I'm not feeling good, so I ended up having to ask for a little help. I hate that!!
I got to the tournament in time for the quarter-finals and the first round consolations. We had some losses in the first round of matches, but, thankfully, the night finished with everyone still in the tournament and able to wrestle again tomorrow. There are 32 teams here, 16 each from 4a (larger) schools and 2a (smaller) schools. There are 14 weight categories for each team. All of the 4a schools have wrestlers in each weight category. The 2a schools sometimes have gaps because they are smaller and may not have enough people. I am guessing there are around 400 wrestlers here tonight - all with hopes and dreams of qualifying for the State Tournament next week at the Pepsi Center in Denver. (home to both the Denver Nuggets basketball team and the Colorado Avalanche hockey team) The atmosphere is quite intense.
I am quickly posting some of the images of the boys wrestling. I didn't stay for the entire round because I had to get back and get pictures downloaded and picked out and e-mailed to the paper for tomorrow morning's edition. I haven't even looked at the whole first card. Tomorrow or Sunday I will try to post others. The drive back was through thick, thick fog - fairly unusual for here. I tried to pick someone to follow since it was difficult to even see the road, but the last vehicle I was following turned off before I even left Pueblo. so I had to drive fairly slowly. It felt like I was driving in a dream. Fortunately it is only 30 miles, so I made it just fine, and got the pictures in. Here you go!
3 comments:
OM Gosh that sounds like hectic hectic day, sure not what you need when you are feeling bad. Glad you got everything done safely and the shots in on time. My husband and his sons and grandsons have all wrestled in their youth. These are great shots. Hope you feel better soon.
Great action shots as always - and I realy liked the shot of Chaco
You are so good at capturing the action in these events and displaying it so well for us! :o)
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